60 crushed to death in Ivory Coast stampede, minister says

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(CNN) — A New Year’s Eve fireworks display in Ivory Coast turned from celebration to tragedy early Tuesday when more than 60 people were crushed to death in a stampede, officials said.

Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said another 40 people were injured, two of them seriously.

Earlier, state media reports suggested that between 100 and 200 people had been hurt.

The 60 dead included 26 children, 28 women and six men, said Minister of Youth Alain Lobognon, via his official Twitter feed, after visiting the hospital morgue where the bodies were taken.

The official AIP news agency earlier said the victims were all children, ranging in age from eight to 15. They were mostly from Abidjan, the country’s largest city and former capital, it said.

Bakayoko said the tragedy happened as hundreds of people were trying to go back home after the fireworks display ended in Plateau, the city’s central business district.

The crush was near a stadium, Bakayoko said, adding that the proper security measures were in place during the fireworks show.

Rescue workers were at the scene two hours later but could not save the victims, AIP said.

A police official in Abidjan told CNN that most of the victims were youngsters because they were keen to join in the celebration while their elders stayed at home.

The stampede occurred in an area of narrow streets, according to the official, who did not want to be named as he is not authorized to talk to the media.

He said the parents of those involved are at the hospitals and are being assisted by state authorities.

Before the night’s events took a deadly turn, AIP reported that thousands of people had poured into the streets to join the celebration, seen by some as symbolizing the nation’s return to peace.

Nearly 5,000 extra personnel were deployed to ensure people’s security, the news agency said, most of them in the Plateau area.

Ivory Coast suffered months of violence following disputed presidential elections in November 2010. Laurent Gbagbo, then the incumbent president, refused to step down after Alassane Ouattara was declared the winner.

Gbagbo was arrested five months later and is now awaiting trial at The Hague, in the Netherlands, accused of crimes against humanity for the civil unrest and deaths.

The International Criminal Court also wants Ivory Coast to hand over his wife, Simone Gbagbo, to face allegations of crimes against humanity.

The West African nation is home to around 22 million people, according to the CIA World Factbook.